Understanding Computer Specs – How do you read them

So you’re looking to buy a new laptop, as your old one is dead as anything! Yeah, that one your parents got you that you only used for Facebook! Well now you’re enrolled in some sort of design course and need lots of software don’t you? Not just any software, powerful stuff! So you really do need to know if the computer you’re looking to buy has the ability to run the software you've chosen for the tasks you need to complete. We’re here to give you an insight into computer specs and break apart bit by bit what each bit means, so you can read them appropriately and pick  the machine right for you!

OS ( Operating System)

The operating system is basically the system your machine runs on. Operating systems are things like Windows 7, Windows Vista ect ect. This is obviously vital for you to have a fully functional computer, so try get the latest one. There are a handful of operating systems to choose from, so have a look!

Processor Speed

The processor speed is the speed at which your laptop, desktop or machine will be able to run applications. It’s measured in a unit called hertz (Hz). Since technology is always moving forward, processors are working faster and faster and are now being measured in MHz (megahertz) or GHz (gigahertz), meaning they’re a lot faster! Example being..Programs are going to respond a heap faster on a machine with a 3Ghz processor than one with a 1.6Ghz one.

RAM (Random Access Memory)

RAM is a type of computer data storage, commonly RAM represents the memory available for the programs that are running on your computer such as office, internet browser, Windows Media Player a game or something else. You could easily multi-task a heap of things but you need the sufficient amount of RAM to do so. The higher demanding a program is, the more RAM it will need. This is why people who do graphic design, video editing or play highly demanding video games, need a lot of ram! So, 16GB of ram is much better than 12, so the higher amount of GB’s RAM you have, the more you can run.

Hard Disc Drive

This is the hard drive, where all your data, files and media is kept. You can measure the storage capacity in bytes. The order goes like this..

• Bit
• Megabit
• Byte
• Kilobyte
• Megabyte
• Gigabyte
• Terabyte

Most hard drives come with at least 100gbs these days. A terabyte is the biggest you can get, being 1,000 gigabytes. You can also buy en external hard drive that connects via USB. This is the same thing, only external so you can plug it in and out of machines.

Optical Disk Drive

These include CD, DVD and Blu Ray drives. Basically they are what you load your CDs into.

USB (Universal Serial Bus )

You use this to connect things like USB sticks, external hard drives, mice and keyboards. The USB ports are located usually on the sides of laptops and at the top or back of Desktops. They’re fantastic and you will use them everyday.

So hopefully this has given you  better insight into what computer specs are like. We hope you now understand better!